President Wants To Amend Laws 'Undermining Kyrgyzstan's Sovereignty'

President Almazbek Atambaev says parts of Kyrgyzstan's constitution are "undermining Kyrgyzstan's sovereignty" and "must be amended."

In an interview with Russia's Interfax news agency published on May 5, Atambaev said, "the sooner we amend such articles the better."

Atambaev's remarks come five days after his aide, Busurmankul Taabaldiev, harshly criticized a call by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) to revise a ruling by Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court against jailed human rights activist Azimjan Askarov.

Taabaldiev said the UNCHR's call interfered in Kyrgyzstan's internal affairs.

Kyrgyzstan's constitution allows its citizens to call upon international courts to protect their rights, and it requires that Kyrgyz authorities comply with decisions made by such institutions.

Askarov, an ethnic Uzbek citizen of Kyrgyzstan, is serving a life sentence on charges that he was an organizer of deadly clashes in 2010 between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz citizens in southern Kyrgyzstan.

Askarov also was convicted on charges linking him to the murder of a police officer who was killed during the violence.